Mitchell Starrett Buck

“ Thy lips are like a flower at my throat . . .
—This roasted fowl, I swear, is daintier than a beautiful woman. Now I maintain that pleasures such as this . . .
—Let her alone, thou ape; she is a Lesbian . . . What is it to thee? . . . Who threw that cup? O shame! It was a rare Etruscan glaze! How strangely the fragments gleam . . .
—O lovely, glowing limbs! O skin like petals of the rose! More maddening than all wines the fair breath sobbing past thy crimsoned lips . . .
—Gods! Gods! I weep. See, my sleeve is all wet with tears! I can drink . . . no more . . . I can drink . . . ”

“ Then lay upon thy slender nudity this tunic, these silken scarves and, over all, this purple vestment broidered with fine gold.
When thou hast done these things—return. If thou art smiling, warm with desire: if I find thee fair: perhaps thou wilt be loved. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1959, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 64 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”